1. Technical Field
This application generally relates to a computer system, and more particularly to flow control within a switching fabric.
2. Description of Related Art
Computer systems may include different resources used by one or more host processors.
Resources and host processors in a computer system may be interconnected by one or more communication connections. These resources may include, for example, data storage devices such as the Symmetrix™ family of data storage systems manufactured by EMC Corporation. These data storage systems may be coupled to one or more host processors and provide storage services to each host processor. An example data storage system may include one or more data storage devices, such as those of the Symmetrix™ family, that are connected together and may be used to provide common data storage for one or more host processors in a computer system.
A host processor may perform a variety of data processing tasks and operations using the data storage system. For example, a host processor may perform basic system I/O operations in connection with data requests, such as data read and write operations and also administrative tasks.
Host processor systems may store and retrieve data using a storage device containing a plurality of host interface units, disk drives, and disk interface units. Such storage devices are provided, for example, by EMC Corporation of Hopkinton, Mass. and disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,206,939 to Yanai et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,778,394 to Galtzur et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,845,147 to Vishlitzky et al., and U.S. Pat. No. 5,857,208 to Ofek. The host systems access the storage device through a plurality of channels provided therewith. Host systems provide data and access control information through the channels to the storage device and storage device provides data to the host systems also through the channels. The host systems do not address the disk drives of the storage device directly, but rather, access what appears to the host systems as a plurality of logical disk units. The logical disk units may or may not correspond to the actual disk drives. Allowing multiple host systems to access the single storage device unit allows the host systems to share data stored therein.
Within a system, such as the Symmetrix™ data storage system, messages may be communicated between different components using a switch fabric. The switch fabric may include one or more switches arranged to permit transmissions of messages between different components, such as processors or directors, included in a single Symmetrix system. Messages may also be referred to as frames and may include a header portion and a payload, such as data. Various techniques may be used in connection with buffering messages for software and/or hardware within the system to ensure that no hardware and/or software buffer overrun occurs. The switch fabric may employ link-level flow control of messages in which, for example, a switch within the switch fabric controls the flow of incoming messages between itself and an endpoint. However, such techniques may not be efficient in limiting the amount of overhead incurred in order to avoid buffer overruns. Additionally, the link-level flow control regulates message flow only at the link level. It may be desirable and prove more efficient to take into account a more global view of message flow rather than at the link level.